Before the playoffs began, many domestic and foreign reviews, fans, seemed to not trust the Golden State Warriors to go far.
It's no wonder the guys don't trust me, including myself!
Since entering 2022, the Warriors have won 26 wins and 22 losses, and the record of the same period can only rank 12th in the league. Let's not talk about the strong teams, that is, the Timberwolves (30-17) and the Eagles (27 wins and 20 losses) that played the playoffs, and the record was better than the Warriors.
Originally, the Warriors sat in the second position of the league in the early stage, and at the end of the season, the team almost lost the third position in the West, but thanks to a wave of five consecutive wins, it barely managed to hold this position.
But this wave of five-game winning opponents, you see, the Spurs, the Lakers, the Kings, the Pelicans, obviously not so convincing. The reason is that because there are no reinforcements in the mid-season, the Warriors' internal problems still exist. And Curry has been injured for so long, how is the state, but also a question mark.
But did the Warriors really decline in strength?
In fact, the lineup is still not neat. The Warriors' Big Three, Curry Green Thompson, who has been looking forward to for so long, has played only one game in total in the regular season this season, which is 11 minutes of Curry's 34-year-old birthday night playing wizards.
Curry was then crushed to the leg by Smart against the Celtics. Green and Curry were injured at the end of the season, which greatly affected the strength of the Warriors, and we all know that the Warriors are like a well-structured winning machine, and the Big Three are indispensable.
This brother plus the current Poole, the Warriors who can play four people at the same time, the strength is definitely the first echelon of the West.
They came in third and came across the Denver Nuggets. Friends who have watched the ball for a little longer should remember that the rise of the Warriors Dynasty is the elimination of the Nuggets in 2013, and this time when the Nuggets are touched, it can be said that there is providence in the darkness.
The Warriors touched the Nuggets four times in the regular season and lost three times. Of those four losses, two were 1 and 3 points, one was Morris's three-point kill and the other was Jokic's fatal block. However, the three games the Warriors lost have a common feature, that is, Green is not there. Without Green, Teacher Yo is really casual with Rooney, and you have to pack it at a low level, otherwise you will be pierced by Teacher Yo. In the four meetings in the regular season, Mr. Yoo averaged 28 points, 15.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, shooting 51.9% from the field. It is no wonder that About Teacher is an MVP hot, this data is scary enough to look at.
But without the Nuggets of Porter and Murray, in fact, the shortcomings of the playoffs are still relatively obvious. In the scene, no one could handle the ball except for the teacher, and no one could score steadily. They can only win by handing over 30 points, 15 boards and 8 assists from the court, but with Green, can teachers be so easy? The answer is obvious after two games: it's not easy, and you can't take the best defensive player seriously.
Let's go back to the series, before the first game of the playoffs between the two teams, the most surprising news was that Cole had Curry on the bench. Curry last played off the bench on May 1, 2018, in the Western Conference playoff semifinals between the Warriors and pelicans. Curry has also made only nine backup appearances in his career.
This arrangement proves three points: one is that Kerr wants to protect Curry and let Curry, who has been in the lineup for a long time, slowly find a state from the bench; the other point is that Kerr is still confident against the Nuggets and is not in a hurry to take Curry as the ultimate weapon. San Curry is a super selfless player who can do everything he can to win.
If Poole can make the Nuggets invincible, why bother Curry, right? In the Warriors Nuggets' first game, Curry was indeed a bit rusty, and all 4 shots were iron before the opening, but Poole made 6 of 6 in the first half and easily scored 17 points. In the whole game, Poole scored 30 points (5 of 7 from three-point range) with only 13 shots, shooting 88.5% from the field. According to statistics, Poole is the player with the highest effective shooting rate in the 30+ of the playoff debut in NBA history.
After the game, the Warriors praised Poole from top to bottom. Curry said: "Poole proved that he was preparing for any moment. His performance was an important factor in my willingness to play as a substitute and relieve the pressure on my comeback from injury. ”
Curry: At the end of the day, looking for a backup point guard for so many years, it turned out to be my own ???
It's no wonder that both Kerr and Rooney are upset about the final roster of three people who failed to make The Most Improved Players, and if Poole is the most eye-catching player in the first game of the Warriors on the offensive end, then green's restrictions on Teacher Joe on the defensive end are forced to be convinced.
Before this group of duels, it was widely believed that the Warriors would pack Jokic and empty the other players of the Nuggets. The result? The Warriors have almost always let Green single defense about the teacher, barefoot height of 1 meter 98 Green, the next set of strength is really strong amazing, stunned is to let the height of 2 meters 11, weigh more than 250 pounds of about the teacher to take him no rut. Whether it is with his body or with his feet, Mr. Joe can't move Green, and Green always holds his hands high, and in the next set, he confronts Mr. Yu Yo and lets him try a more difficult hook shot.
After the game, according to the NBA's official website, Mr. Yo and Green played 26 rounds, shooting 4-of-10; 18 rounds with Rooney, shooting 5-of-7; and 4-of-7 during the confrontation with other Warriors players.
Hear what Clay had to say: "Green is the best defensive player in the world. It's the guy who can influence the pattern. Without him, we wouldn't be the Warriors you know. ”
Today, the two teams played the second game, and the Nuggets also showed the momentum of a backwater battle. Mr. Jo opened the game with a fierce inside attack, taking 12 points, and the Nuggets made 14-2 with a group of substitutes in the second quarter, once leading the Warriors by 10 points. But if you really watch the game, you think that the Nuggets' lead is not stable at all, because the Warriors seem to be able to chase back with a single force. Sure enough, the Warriors went 16-0, leading the Nuggets by six points before halftime. In the third quarter, the Warriors played in a wave, 101-81 playing the game.
Teacher Jo is also really anxious today. In the third quarter, he also argued with Wiggins and suffered a technical foul. The whole game about the teacher was 26 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.
Poole continued to work hard today, scoring 29 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists. In the first two games of his playoff career, he scored 59 points, second only to Chamberlain in team history.
If you continue to fight like this, Poole's salary is really not far away.
Finally, Curry also found his touch from the bench today, and it took only 23 minutes to cut 34 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists on 12-of-17 shooting, to say a statistic: This is also the highest score that a player can get in the league since 1975 when the playoffs are no more than 23 minutes.
These two games were played down, and the verdict was made.
As for the Warriors, Kerr's biggest question may be: Who in this starting lineup will make room for Curry? Putting Pooler on the bench with 59 points in two games? Isn't that too extravagant? Morant next door also said the truth after watching the ball after the game today: The Warriors are really full of shooters!
But this is ultimately a happy annoyance, after more than two months of downturn, Warriors fans, finally found the feeling of watching the game at the beginning of the season.
At the beginning of the season, I predicted that if the ideal was, they would be able to play the Western Conference Finals, and now I see, I still know the ball?